Christian Joppke and John Torpey

Western societies remain deeply contentious about the status of Islam in their midst. Countering strident claims on both the right and left, Legal Integration of Islam offers an empirically informed analysis of how four liberal democracies—France, Germany, Canada, and the United States—have responded to the challenge of integrating Islam and Muslim populations. The authors reject the widely held notion that Europe is incapable of accommodating Islam and argue that institutional barriers to Muslim integration are no greater on one side of the Atlantic than the other. But while Muslims have achieved a substantial degree of equality working through the courts, political dynamics increasingly push back against these gains, particularly in Europe. The authors bring to light the successes and the shortcomings of integrating Islam through law without denying the challenges that this religion presents for liberal societies. John Torpey (Prof., GC) serves on the doctoral faculty in history and sociology.